Lead generation is what it's all about at the end of the day: all business owners and marketing professionals essentially want to increase leads or opportunities for creating repeat customers or new business.
However, what happens when you are ready to sell the product and/or service but the lead (potential/returning customer) is not ready to make a purchase just yet? I recently had unpleasant experiences both offline and online with organizations forcing sales when I wasn't ready to purchase. It was these experiences which motivated me to dig deep into this topic by writing this post, hopefully shedding light on the new lead nurturing etiquette which seems to be gaining higher relevancy in our ever evolving B2B, B2C and P2P (person to person) interactions.
About a month or so ago, I visited a furniture retail store with my girlfriend to look at potential pieces for my long-overdue transition into home ownership. As soon we stepped into the store we were greeted by a sales associate - asking if we required any assistance, informing us of the current sales promotions and to come see him should we have any questions. Great - we had a person for all my answers. We thanked him for the introduction and told him that at this point we are just looking around and getting ideas, not purchasing anything. Unfortunately, as we began to walk through the furniture show room we noticed that we were being shadowed by that same person - every section we went to, he was creepily walking behind us. When we would look over our shoulder he would pretend to be looking at, or fixing up the arrangement of some nearby furniture products. As I began to have discussions with my girlfriend about what would look good - he would jump in our personal conversations and try to tell us what would work.
As we were leaving the store, the sales associate told us that if we left a deposit NOW we could get it back even if we change our mind later on. No thank you - our response. Yet, he kept selling: if we left our deposit now he would try to get free shipping if we spent $450 or more dollars. No thank you - our response yet again. Both of us left the store feeling creeped out, uncomfortable and unsatisfied.
As a matter of fact we found dinning furniture which we thought would work - but decided later on to buy from another store with a similar style that actually cost more in price. Why? Their sales associate's introduced themselves - let us figure out what we want, and essentially we came back to them to make the purchase. They did not try to force it on us, they were there when they needed to be...and gave us space when we needed it. As a matter of fact, we tried to get free shipping or a price discount - which were pleasantly denied by the furniture store. We still bought the furniture!
Online Store XP
Free stuff - who doesn't like to receive it? Particularly when its downloading stock photography, for 7 days. That's right - there was an offer to download ANY of the images of a certain stock image website for 7 days, at absolutely no cost. Great sales tool - I sign up, give my personal information and join there lead funnel...I on the other hand, get to check out their photography, try it out on a trial period and see if it would work as a long-term solution. Sounds like a match made in heaven right? Not so much...
After the 2nd day, I found that the images were decent - but not exactly up to par of some of the other popular stock photography websites. I downloaded images for about 2 days and decided to unsubscribe and remove myself not only from the free offer, but from the email promotions and newsletters which they started to send me. To my surprise, the emails still kept coming - I unsubscribed again and went to my "online profile" where I removed myself from ALL email communications. Yet the emails kept coming. I had to block the address in my email account, yet again that was not the end of it!
However, what happens when you are ready to sell the product and/or service but the lead (potential/returning customer) is not ready to make a purchase just yet? I recently had unpleasant experiences both offline and online with organizations forcing sales when I wasn't ready to purchase. It was these experiences which motivated me to dig deep into this topic by writing this post, hopefully shedding light on the new lead nurturing etiquette which seems to be gaining higher relevancy in our ever evolving B2B, B2C and P2P (person to person) interactions.
A Bit of Context
In-Store XPAbout a month or so ago, I visited a furniture retail store with my girlfriend to look at potential pieces for my long-overdue transition into home ownership. As soon we stepped into the store we were greeted by a sales associate - asking if we required any assistance, informing us of the current sales promotions and to come see him should we have any questions. Great - we had a person for all my answers. We thanked him for the introduction and told him that at this point we are just looking around and getting ideas, not purchasing anything. Unfortunately, as we began to walk through the furniture show room we noticed that we were being shadowed by that same person - every section we went to, he was creepily walking behind us. When we would look over our shoulder he would pretend to be looking at, or fixing up the arrangement of some nearby furniture products. As I began to have discussions with my girlfriend about what would look good - he would jump in our personal conversations and try to tell us what would work.
As we were leaving the store, the sales associate told us that if we left a deposit NOW we could get it back even if we change our mind later on. No thank you - our response. Yet, he kept selling: if we left our deposit now he would try to get free shipping if we spent $450 or more dollars. No thank you - our response yet again. Both of us left the store feeling creeped out, uncomfortable and unsatisfied.
As a matter of fact we found dinning furniture which we thought would work - but decided later on to buy from another store with a similar style that actually cost more in price. Why? Their sales associate's introduced themselves - let us figure out what we want, and essentially we came back to them to make the purchase. They did not try to force it on us, they were there when they needed to be...and gave us space when we needed it. As a matter of fact, we tried to get free shipping or a price discount - which were pleasantly denied by the furniture store. We still bought the furniture!
Online Store XP
Free stuff - who doesn't like to receive it? Particularly when its downloading stock photography, for 7 days. That's right - there was an offer to download ANY of the images of a certain stock image website for 7 days, at absolutely no cost. Great sales tool - I sign up, give my personal information and join there lead funnel...I on the other hand, get to check out their photography, try it out on a trial period and see if it would work as a long-term solution. Sounds like a match made in heaven right? Not so much...
After the 2nd day, I found that the images were decent - but not exactly up to par of some of the other popular stock photography websites. I downloaded images for about 2 days and decided to unsubscribe and remove myself not only from the free offer, but from the email promotions and newsletters which they started to send me. To my surprise, the emails still kept coming - I unsubscribed again and went to my "online profile" where I removed myself from ALL email communications. Yet the emails kept coming. I had to block the address in my email account, yet again that was not the end of it!
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